New Year! Ready, set, GO!

This past year has been a contemplative one. I've spent a great deal of time thinking about what I want to be when I grow up and very little time taking action. I won't be so hard on myself about it. It's good to take time and gain perspective. And I've been busy parenting a toddler, which is (AAAAAAAAAAAH!) no small feat. :P

I've been totally obsessing with my professional development lately (could it be I'm turning 30 soon?), and one day just shy of Christmas I sat upright from my slump on the sofa with an epiphany. It was so overwhelming and so simple I couldn't help but speak the words out loud to the universe. I'm Capable. Sounds silly right? TOTALLY.

Everyone might tell me that a million times and I would say: yeah yeah I know. I can do anything I set my mind to. But I never really really believe it. I'd hear the little voice in my head telling myself things like: Oh you're not good with numbers. You could never actually market yourself. You'll get taken advantage of. You'll fail. You couldn't handle the logistics.
I'm Capable. I can be. I can do. I can succeed.

The last time I checked I was pretty sure I wanted to be an artist. In fact, every time I check it's the same. So time to start making art. I did keep myself productive with small scale projects and items for the SSWG annual sale. I just want to up the scales a notch or two and start back into the stuff that got me to and through art school: my painting, drawing and tapestry, the latter leads me to my first goal of the new year.

I have decided to submit a tapestry into this year's Saskatchewan Craft Council DIMENSIONS touring exhibition. I'll post progress updates with photos until the completion. Starting with this one!



Step 1: I hauled that mammoth tapestry loom up from the pits and set her up in my living room.



Step 2: I tore off all the fail. Long story short I was so burned out after weaving my grad work that by the time I graduated and got this BEAUTY as a gift I was too tuckered to weave on it. That's not to say I didn't try starting a few projects and petering out a few inches in. So I tore all the badness off, re-tied, tensioned and twined the remaining warp for a completely fresh start. It's time to christen the thing properly.

Step 3: I came up with a mission. Actually this came first but I never spoke it out loud and made it a mission until after I received the call for submissions, at which point I thought to myself: This is a sign. My preoccupation with my professional development this past year, the epiphany, the concepts for 3-dimensional tapestries, and now the call for submissions for a show called DIMENSIONS?

So here I go!